Colin McCarraher
Year of Call 1990

 

Colin is a specialist defence criminal advocate who deals with serious organised crime, serious fraud, corruption, murder, major international drugs trafficking and proceeds of crime.

He is regularly instructed in serious sexual offences including child abduction, rape, child pornography (internet distribution) and human trafficking for prostitution.

Colin has a growing number of criminal cases with Russian or Russian speaking Eastern European clients. He is a qualified Russian interpreter and has lived in the country. These cases have included fraud, illegal immigration, organised crime and sexual offences. He has recently been instructed in a multi handed million pound internet banking fraud receiving national news coverage. He has also represented a Russian oligarch in less serious criminal allegations.

Cases more recently defended include manslaughter with transferred malice, automatism, abuse of process involving police corruption at a senior level and estate agent fraud.

Over 20 years he has represented all types of men and women from many different backgrounds. He is a client orientated advocate and will go the extra mile to win a case large or small. He has secured witness summonses against prosecution counsel/solicitor/caseworker in order to argue abuse of process and win it. He has faced and dealt with condemnation in the press to ensure a fair result for his clients.

REPORTED CASES INCLUDE

R  -v- Ian Hersey [1998] Crim.L.R. 281 CA. This is the leading authority on voice identification and the first case in England and Wales to rely solely on voice identification using sophisticated auditory techniques without any other supporting evidence. It broke new ground at the time and resulted in a new section in Archbold dealing with voice identification.

Since this case Colin has been instructed in a number of high profile cases involving a major voice identification element. This includes R  -v- Arran Coghlan a gangland murder trial which resulted in acquittal.

R  -v- Lynsey (Jonathan Simon)[1995] 3 All ER 654;[1995] 2 Cr.App,.R.667;(1995) 159 JP 437; (1995) 159 JPN 317 This case is now used for arguments with respect to construing a statute since the Court of Appeal held that for the purposes of CJA 1988 s.40 common assault was to be construed as including battery which is a totally different offence simply to make sense of an Act of Parliament. This  case involved tracing the entire history of the criminal law as it relates to violence and produced sophisticated legal argument with a large number of authorities.

Colin served for 25 years in the reserve forces. This included working on HM minesweepers. He can read naval charts properly and has a sound knowledge of maritime matters which has played a significant role in winning importation cases involving seizure/arrest at sea.

Colin is a keen tenor saxophone player and runs his own jazz quintet. This can be booked through the clerks.

QUALIFICATIONS

Law MA (Cantab)
Russian BA (Hons)
Bachelor of Law (Kings Inns, Dublin)
CSC Interpreter (Russian)